Discover Tibetan Buddhism


Seeing the Nature of Reality Through Buddhist Meditation

Many Eastern texts have sought toit power by trying to get rid of it. We
explain the "Perennial Philosophy" viewsee that it is our reaction to the
of reality. Here the author attempts itinformation that binds us and disturbs
using some concepts the ancients didn'tus. Pleasant or unpleasant stuff has no
have, and discusses how two varieties ofpower as long as we remain detached and
Buddhist meditation can help ussimply watch it arise and disappear on
internalize this view.its own. It is when we cling to the
The perennial philosophy "nondual"present, wanting it to continue or push
spiritual traditions (such asaway the unpleasant, wanting it to
Nisargadatta's Vedanta, and Tibetandisappear, that we suffer and lose our
Buddhism's Dzogchen) hold that existenceinnate equanimity and freedom. Vipassana
involves a monistic, enduring,gives us many insights that we need if
unchanging, ABSOLUTE reality and awe are to understand how trapped we
dualistic, ephemeral,usually are in this relative realm.
constantly-changing RELATIVE reality.Although Vipassana does not introduce us
Through the practices that I describe into the absolute, it is designed to help
my book TOWARD WISDOM, I too have comeus see much that must be seen, and in my
to see that this is the way it is.view (and that of most Buddhist
Describing the situation in words hasteachers) it is the place to start. We
always been tricky, but I found thatfirst need to learn to quiet the mind
certain "information age" conceptsand look with detachment at the relative
clarify the situation.reality into which we are heavily
The way I put it in a ZYGON paper and inimmersed and identified. The Tibetan
Part 1 of my 2004 book MATTERS OFBuddhist practice of Dzogchen and the
CONSEQUENCE, the absolute reality, theAdvaita Vedanta of Nisargadatta, on the
foundation of all that is, is a onenessother hand, seek to introduce us to the
that has both a physical aspect we callabsolute. Yes, underlying the relative
energy, and a mental aspect we callworld of mental information, and
awareness. Energy and awareness areallowing it to exist, is that enabling
carrier-like in nature. That is, theysomething we usually call awareness. It
can be shaped, or formed, or modulatedis contentless, yet supportive of all
by information without their own naturecontent; informationless, yet supportive
being in any way changed. Althoughof an infinite variety of informational
informational modulation does not causemodulation. It is clear, transparent,
the intrinsic nature of energy-awarenessnot a thing. Other terms for it include:
to change, it does cause a relative- innate wakefulness
reality to arise. This relative reality- natural mindfulness
is a transient, insubstantial- primordial awareness
INFORMATIONAL reality. Physical reality- empty, luminous cognizance
is a relative world of information- everpresent, inherent, utterly
supported by thespacious openness
absolute-reality-carrier we call energy.- inexpressible beingness
Mental reality is a relative world of- isness
information, supported by the- one's own true nature
absolute-reality-carrier we call- rigpa (Tibetan for this reality)
awareness.- nondual awareness
The evolutionary process, with its pass- total presence
fail criteria of survival and- open presence
reproduction, designed the human brain- spontaneously present awareness
and its associated mentality with- the cognizing power of emptiness
survival and reproduction as primary- one's own innate wakefulness
considerations. The cognitive systemIn Dzogchen and Nisargadatta's practice
that evolution designed helps us tothe aim is to become cognizant of this
understand relative reality because itabsolute aspect of mind, and in some
is in this arena that the drama ofsense to become it - to relax into it or
survival and reproduction is played out.identify with it and to view the
Human mentality was not designed torelative world of information from that
allow us to understand absolute realityvantage point. Awareness is
with ease because there was no survivalnoninformational, so it doesn't appear
or reproduction payoff in that. Now, inas the normal kind of mind content. Even
kinder, gentler circumstances, we wantin meditation, the colors we see and the
to understand the deeper truth -bliss we feel are still part of the
absolute truth - and we find that veryrelative world of brain-generated
difficult. And why shouldn't it beinformation. Allowing us to sense those
difficult? We're trying to use the humancolors and feel that bliss, however, is
cognizing system for a differentthis primordial awareness, this
purpose. It was designed to give us acognizing power that belongs to the
handle on relative, informational truth,realm of absolute reality. Our deep true
the truth about the cosmic message; notnature is that primal awareness itself,
absolute truth, carrier-related truth,and not those things in the
the truth about the cosmic medium.informational, relative world that we
Spiritual practices are tools that givetake to be our selves. The problem is
us some hope of seeing through thethat mental information, mind content,
relative to the absolute. Vipassanais so powerful and overwhelming, and our
meditation is a practice that gives us aidentification with it so tenacious,
better handle on the nature of relativethat letting go of our identification as
reality. We watch, with as mucha thought-dominated person and
detachment as we can muster, thesurrendering into our true nature - into
informational show that the brainour own innate wakefulness - does not
generates. Despite our best efforts,happen easily. The detachment we develop
however, we frequently get lost in thatin Vipassana readies us for this. Then,
show - we lose that sense of detachment(as I see it) at some point it makes
from it. Experiencing both detachmentsense to switch to one of the
and lost-in-the-showness, we eventuallyabsolute-reality practices.
come to realize that thisIn one sense, the difference between
lost-in-the-show state is where we spendDzogchen and Vipassana is quite subtle.
most of our lives. The normal humanIn both practices the informational
condition is to be identified witharisings in the mind are watched with
informational patterns, with thedetachment. The difference is that in
relative reality that the brain creates.Dzogchen and other nondual practices one
In Vipassana we are still payingis also cognizant of the underlying
attention to the relative, but becauseground or carrier of that information -
we are more detached from it thanthat "primordial awareness," that
before, gradually, bit by bit, insight"utterly spacious openness," that
by insight, we begin to see the nature"empty, luminous cognizance." It
of relative reality. We begin to see theremains, enduring and pure, unaffected
impersonal nature of the brain'sby the coming and going of the
churning out of information. There is nomodulating forces applied to it. Primal
"I" that is doing it. It just happensawareness watches the show of relative
mechanically, automatically. We alsoreality. And that pure contentless
discover that the informational stuffawareness is the true me. I can choose
that arises has no inherent power. Withto participate in the show at any time,
practice we learn that it's possible tobut I am not OF that show. I am OF the
watch even physical discomfort and heavyrealm of absoluteness. That is my true
emotions such as fear and anger withouthome, and my refuge from domination and
suffering when we accept thatcontrol by mental information.
informational reality and refuse to give



1 A B 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84